Paul B. Benham III

Corporate and Commercial Finance and Governance

Partner

Paul B. Benham III

Corporate and Commercial Finance and Governance

Partner

(501) 370-1517

benham@fridayfirm.com

(501) 244-5335

Biography

Paul B. Benham III has developed a rich and deep practice over the course of his career. After having clerked for The Honorable Carleton Harris, Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, he undertook a corporate finance practice, eventually including securities and mergers and acquisitions work. He is listed in Chambers USA for Corporate and Commercial Work and is particularly regarded for his handling of financial matters for banks and secured lenders. The Best Lawyers in America lists Paul for a number of areas: Corporate Finance; Mergers and Acquisitions and Securities.

Chambers is known for the rigor of its research, and about Paul, it wrote,

“Paul Benham is a major presence at the firm and he handles finance matters for a number of banks and secured lenders.”

His finance practice has involved initial, primary and secondary public offerings of equity and debt securities, and of hybrid securities such as junior subordinated deferrable interest debentures, collateralized pollution control revenue bonds, subordinated trust preferred securities and leveraged and synthetic leases. He has also represented both lenders and borrowers in sophisticated, non-traditional, project financings. He represented the Arkansas State Highway Commission in the initial Arkansas GARVEE Bond Program, a unique combination of federal and state funds of more than $650 million for interstate highway repair and resurfacing.

Arkansas-based Fortune 500 companies as well as the Arkansas banking industry call on Paul for government regulatory counsel, guidance and representation. In these matters, he has advised companies such as Entergy Arkansas, Regions Bank and the largest Class One freight railroad in the country.

Honors

Key Matters

Represented a multi-jurisdictional national gas energy company before the Arkansas Public Service Commission with respect to its purchase of a natural gas distribution company.

Represented a diversified natural gas energy company before the Arkansas Public Services Commission with respect to the sale of its distribution subsidiary.

Represented a commercial electric power consumer before the Arkansas Public Service Commission with respect to the construction of a solar power project.

Engaged by an exempt wholesale electricity generator with respect to the proposed sale of its Arkansas generating facilities.

Represented the largest Class One freight railroad in the country with respect to real estate and regulatory issues relating to its construction of its multi-million dollar intermodal facility in eastern Arkansas.

Served as counsel to the Arkansas Bankers Association in drafting a proposed constitutional usury amendment and federal preemption provisions for non-bank lenders.

Representative Clients

Entergy Arkansas, Inc.

Entergy Corporation

The largest Class One freight railroad in the country

Education

University of Arkansas School of Law, J.D., 1971; Associate Editor, Arkansas Law Review, 1969-1970

Vanderbilt University, B.A., 1968

Noteworthy

Listed in Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in Corporate/Commercial

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America, Corporate Finance; Mergers and Acquisitions; Securities